The prior art discloses making mesh, for example, from two sheets of interwoven yarn, forming a cloth or fabric. The prior art meshes are often made from glass yarn coated with PAC and then woven, or from glass yarn woven and then coated with PAC. The PAC coating represents up to 60% of the total weight. The products obtained using these techniques are expensive, and moreover, in the event of a fire, the PAC emits toxic HCl. Regarding mesh products obtained by coating after weaving, the holes in the mesh are in general clogged in a random fashion. Inversely, in the case of products obtained by coating the glass yarn before weaving, the light is controlled by choosing the size of the gaps between the parallel strands of the different sheets, which makes it possible to determine the size of the holes, also called mesh. PAC coating makes the glass yarn opaque, such that the light does not pass through. One example of this type of product is the XL Screen 5% sold by Hexcel Fabrics (Villeurbanne, France).
Another known mesh consists of treating the glass yarn with a vinyl binder associated with polyurethane and a mineral filler. This treatment is inexpensive and makes it possible to treat the fabric as a whole once it is woven. In this case, the glass yarn is woven before treatment, and treated by padding. The padding technique makes it possible to deposit treatment compound on the yarn in a quantity corresponding to about 20 to about 30% of the total weight. Consequently, the yarn is less opaque. The yarn allows light to pass, which results in less control of the light attenuating ability of the mesh obtained in this manner. An example of this type of product is 1292 Fix 78 sold by Hexcel Fabrics (Villeurbanne, France). These products are mainly sold in the form of strips and are perfectly suited for making curtains composed of vertical strips. However, this type of product is not suitable for making rolling curtains or blinds (also know as roller blinds).
In the paint industry, it is common practice to add a TiO2 type filler to increase paint opacity, but the transposition of this technique to the treatment of glass yarn mesh is not directly conceivable, given that TiO2 damages glass fibers, which then break more easily, and are no longer strong enough to be bent or folded.